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Turquoise is a fascinating gem, prized in many cultures and believed to bring luck, peace, and protection. It is also one of the birthstones associated with the month of December.
Working with Turquoise can be such a treat as it comes in such a wide variety of patterns, lusters, and even colors, including bright blue to "Tibetan green".
Fun fact: it is the only stone to have a color named after it!
Turquoise forms when a chemical reaction takes place from water dripping through rock containing copper, aluminum and other materials. This takes place over the course of millions of years, and requires a complex set of conditions in an arid desert-like area. The dark "veining" or "spider web" markings often seen are what's called "matrix" and can vary in color, size and pattern depending on the material/rock available when turquoise is formed. The blue color of turquoise happens when copper is present and if the area where it forms contains more aluminum then different shades of green are likely to form. Zinc will result in very rare deposits that are more yellow-green and to-date have only been found in Nevada (US).
Although turquoise in the US is mainly found in/around the southwest there is a very small area in Virginia that is known to produce a small amount of turquoise. Mines located in the southwestern US, many family-owned to this day, still produce a wide variety of color and quality. Turquoise has been part of Native American tradition for thousands of years, but has been around for millennia and mined in many places around the world, including Persia, where clear blue turquoise is regarded to be one of the finest examples. India, another well known producer of the gem, offers mostly green turquoise, while China produces a very wide variety of colors (which unfortunately aren't always natural and may have been dyed or manipulated in other ways).
Throughout history turquoise has been widely (and mostly) used for adornment. The stone itself does not have many other uses and it never seems to loose its popularity or "go out of fashion". Lots of the turquoise available today may have been treated, enhanced, stabilized, or even dyed. This does not mean the turquoise isn't real or genuine, but rather, it is not considered 100% "natural". Less than 5% of natural turquoise is hard enough to be used in jewelry (it can be very porous and brittle making it virtually unusable), which means that without treatment it would be extremely rare and virtually unobtainable for most of us.
Even with treatment or enhancement turquoise is not a very hard stone and requires some extra care. Handle your turquoise gently and carefully in order to avoid scratching the stone. Keep it away from high heat and chemicals. Even oils and commercial jewelry cleaners can cause damage to the stone so it is recommended to clean turquoise using just warm sudsy water and drying it immediately with a soft clean cloth.